Kanchanaburi Vintage Trains from the Death Railway

There is a small display of vintage train engines used on the Death Railway and even though the sun was behind the horizon I wanted to take a few photos. Kanchanaburi in April is sweltering hot like the rest of Thailand, so hot that even a few hours outdoors saps your strength. An advantage to being out when the sun dips below the horizon is an immediate and significant cooling of temperature. Photographically it’s a mixed bag. Without the sun for lighting you need to get more creative.

This image is significant because it’s a vintage train engine that actually ran on the tracks of the Death Railway, and because it’s a good example of using available light through a long exposure. In this case the sodium lights used to light the display. Bracing carefully I was able to shoot a 1/10th which coupled with a 400 ISO and f4.5 aperture allowed just enough light to fall on the subject. Because the light temperature from sodium lights is quite different from the natural light in the background I masked off the train and adjusted its white balance separately. I think the results are striking despite some significant artifacts from the level of post processing needed to pull it off.

Captured about 30 minutes earlier this is the actual Japanese truck modified to run on the rails and used during the construction of the bridge and other parts of the Death Railway. You can’t see in this particular image, but the open engine bay still houses the original engine complete with external shrouded pushrods and individual cylinders (similar to a Harley Davidson motorcycle engine). This truck is an icon in its own right. I think it’s amazing that it’s so well preserved.